The Winter Village Chapel is a heavily modified version of the same by Philocrites. I reverse engineered it and made quite a few changes, the color scheme being the most obvious. It’s mostly complete, at least complete enough that I probably won’t revise it too soon.

The PX-38 Thunder Clap is a sport craft built for people who want more than just a method of getting from point A to point B. Fast and efficient, the Thunder Clap adds fun and a touch of nostalgia to your everyday errands. The model shown here is used in air shows and has been modified to carry two low power anti-matter ejection canons, for visual effect only.

Design Notes:

The P-38 Lightning: the coolest looking WW2 plane in existance. How could I not make an entry for a space contest featuring this plane? Seeing as the Lightning is a classic, I couldn’t help but think “Classic Space” when I got started building, hence the classic fig and the old style parts. Design issues were minor. The first was figuring out how to get landing gear on it. The results were not completely graceful and ended up making the nose asymmetrical, but I think it was worth it just to have landing gear on a model so small. The other challenge was putting the center of gravity beyond the rear gear. It eventually all worked out. The model can be built in real life, in the colors shown EXCEPT for the grey 1×2 tiles with grill pattern. I thought they existed, but aparrently they don’t. Anyway, close enough.

The VX-212 Myralux was concieved of as a space-capable aquatic craft, perhaps piloted by an advanced species whose planet is primarily oceanic. Under water propulsion is via a magneto-dynamic syphon system (no moving parts). Water is taken in via the tubes on either side of the canopy and expelled out the nozzles in the back. It also features foldable landing gear with closing landing gear bays. Its only weaponry is an array of four harpoons mounted ventrally.

Design Notes:

This one’s been under construction since late June, 2003, and I still consider it a work in progress (in particular, the engines and the space on top near the canopy and flags still need some polish). There are several changes in the process I used to design and build the Myralux. In the past, I’ve shot for just form and then fixed the colors in LDraw. That worked for simpler models, but I’ve found it’s very difficult to build a good form when the off colors are driving me crazy. This is the first model since my Apollo fighter that I’ve built in the actual colors which helped a lot during the design phase.

This is also my first design-from-idea since my Scythe tansport. Usually, I let the ships build themselves by putting parts together and hoping they lead me somewhere, but the idea for the general form for Myralux (the curved surfaces with a cabin set towards the back and weapons underneath) came all at once in a flash. The details such as engines, landing gear, and weapons came from experimentation. The building progress followed this pattern too; it went quickly right up to the engine design at which point everything broke down. After several experiments and a little luck, it’s pretty much presentable though I’m not completely happy with it.

Finally, this is my first shot at semi-studless design. The idea to make it studless came a bit late (keep in mind “studless design” was just becoming popular in 2003) and if I were going to do it over again, I probably would have made the wings from horizontal bricks instead of the standard studs-up plates. The 2×2 flags are actually mounted to Technic flexible tubing which is held in place via clip plates and clip tiles (see the yellow pieces in the ldraw model). There are some gaps in the interior where the wings would be mounted–I plan to redesign the wing mounting so they’ll be a bit more sturdy while requiring less space to mount, perhaps using technic locking connectors as I did with the Apollo. For now, I haven’t bothered to include the parts for the wing mounting though they’re just more 1×2 hinge plates.

Got a Fleebnork problem? Call the Pros. The Nork Squad is composed of 3 highly-trained, professional Fleebnorkers whose pleasure it is to rid you of those annoying and often dangerous space pests known as Fleebnorks.

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Frank Christianson, aka “The FCC”, is the leader of the group and he is also the only one who is not heavily armed. His expertise in xenopsychology and cutting edge tracking technologies make him the ideal man to take charge of hunting strategy. It’s his business to keep up with the latest fleebnork habits and tactics, ensuring that the group stays one step ahead of this ever-more-crafty breed of space pest.

At first glance, Matchbox appears to be your typical pyro. He’s never denied the story of him having set the family cat’s tail on fire with a magnifying glass when he was four years old, though he doesn’t say much in general. He dropped out of college shortly after enrolling to follow his first love: fire. He’s actually an agreeable sort and is quite slow to anger, but often his thorough enjoyment of melting things with his plasma thrower leads people to think they’re best off not risking eye-contact.

“Platinum” Pete Tanaka earned his master’s degree in chemistry in 5 years after finishing highschool a year early and has a general habit of doing things quickly and efficiently. He earned his nickname in college for his extensive work with corrosive gases. Since then, he’s taken to spelling his name Pt which has the added bonus of being faster to write. He carries an elecron pulse gun, which he calls his “Zapper,” and his own concoction of a sulfuric acid spray blended with other chemical agents. He mentions a “secret blend of 11 herbs and spices” but has never clarified what that might mean.

Skeeter is the fourth member of the three man team. Though he was not programmed with any kind of personality, he comes off as playful and sometimes a bit of a show-off. While often this causes Pete to spend far more maintenance time with him than he should, it’s been good for publicity so no attempt has been made to correct the behavior. On-lookers always love watching a bot that enjoys its work so much. Skeeter is armed with two plasma torches, a radiation gun (which is only effective as a stunning weapon for fleebs and does no real damage), and a diamond coated high-speed saw for getting those especially crafty fleebs where they think they’re safe.

Design Notes

Today’s MOC was brought to you by the parts “Minifig Hand” and “Tap.” Minifig hands are one of the smallest lego pieces, so they make for an excellent detail piece for an already small MOC. I’ve used them for control levers, hand holds on weapons, and just as general greeblies. The tap is the key to Skeeter’s face and also came in handy with the weapons. I wouldn’t say there were really any difficulties with these guys. It was all pretty much trial and error with both parts and colors untill I thought they looked cool. The bot was a fun piece of work. He’s part robotic hunting dog, part swiss army knife, and all fleeb-terror.

No minifigs were harmed during the making of this MOC. Except for the ones running around without hands.

The Raven II, more popularly known as the “Raven X” is a custom-made high performance racing craft built in the spirit of the great Air Races of the early 20th century.

Design Notes:

This model is a remake of my X-89 Raven which was probably my first real MOC, built in 1988 (5th grade). The idea was to preserve the overall design but modernize the style and technique. The the wing shape, skid-style landing gear, 1×1 cones in the nose, the large engine in the tail, and the smaller thrusters behind the cockpit all made it into this new version of the ship. The large cannon on the roof had to go to allow for the canopy to open (one of the main flaws of the original design was that you had to take the model apart to get the pilot in and out). As this new design felt like a racer and not a fighter, the cannon really lost its purpose anyway.

The engine mounting went through several complex variations before I finally settled on the 20 year old L bracket. Another tough spot was the mounting for the rear skid which I also ended up doing in a rather simple configuration. I’m not so happy with it, but the engine is interesting enough to distract from it, I think. The SNOT work between the nose and cabin (the heart of which is well concealed under the nose) was very difficult untill I dumped the use of a certain special piece which I intend to use in another model. Finally, the work behind the seat and above the engine mounting was difficult due to all the different things I wanted in there. The seat back, thrusters, flag, and the podracer fender all had to be mounted in one little spot, and the whole thing had to be sturdy enough to not fall apart.

Perhaps the hardest part of all was nailing down the color scheme. The skis only come in red, teal, yellow, and white. I really wanted to use black and teal, but not enough other things came in teal and I also couldn’t quite find a color of glass to go with it. So in the end, Red and Black is a rather uncreative color scheme, but I felt forced into it. On the other hand, the model is buildable in real life, in the colors shown.

Here’s my electronic mod to the 10026 UCS Naboo Fighter to light up the engines and add to the realism. There is a blue LED in each of the engines wired to a 12 Hz timer chip giving a nice flickering-flame effect.

The animated gif linked above gives the general idea though even on my 1.5 GHz machine it doesn’t flicker nearly fast enough. 12 Hz is about perfect to make it look like a flickering flame rather than always on or flashing on and off.

MODIFICATIONS TO THE MODEL:

Remove inside 2×8 bricks

Remove inside 2×2 brick with technic peg

Remove lower 2×4 no-corner plates from wings

Swap 5L technic axels in engines for 4L

Swap 1.5L dk grey technic pins in engines for 2L black friction pins (you should do this even if you’re not adding the lights ;)

Razor a stud off of two pieces: a right and a left inverted curvy slope (may the lego gods forgive me…)

Blue LED’s require a lot more voltage than your typical LED – anywhere from 3.6 to 4.2 V, so to get the circuit to run and leave a little room for overhead, use at least 6 Volts. This works out perfectly, as even if I could have found a way to fit three AAA batteries into the chasis (without removing the black 4×8 plate which basicly holds the whole thing together), it still would not have been enough to drive the LED’s. Another option would be to run an AC adapter into it, but that would greatly hinder the swooshability. ;)

If you are actually making this, be sure you pass the led/wire combo through the necessary pieces before soldering to main circuit!

Using R2 as an on/off switch would have been cool, but there is a limit to how many parts I’m willing to put under the knife.

The more difficult to find parts can be gotten from Mouser Electronics. For instance, I ordered the battery clip and the very small push-on push-off switch there. The LED’s and other discreet components can be found at Radio Shack or any standard electronic parts store.

An unfinished model, my most ambitious by far. I only built small sections at a time out of real parts, then put them into the computer. This rendering should work fine, but it still needs a lot of work, particularly the spire and the interior.

Future Plans:

2nd floor museum – binocs hanging on walls near windows

1st floor cafe

roof access observatory?

Look for this one to be completed when: we have money for the parts, and: the kids are old enough to help.